Nick Clegg: Let voters sack corrupt MPs

Telegraph TV: Nick Clegg was speaking at the Liberal Democrat conference for the first time as leader of the party

By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent

2:41PM GMT 09 Mar 2008

MPs caught misusing public money should face by-elections where constituents would have the chance to sack them, the Liberal Democrat leader told his party conference today.

Nick Clegg said the Lib Dems would demand a massive constitutional shake-up as a condition of forming a power-sharing government with either of the two big parties.

Only the offer of a "new type of government" could tempt him to join forces with Labour or the Tories in the event of a hung Parliament, Mr Clegg said in his first conference speech in charge.

Mr Clegg made his sleaze call as a senior Conservative backed sweeping reform of MPs' expenses and allowances. MPs of all parties are concerned that cases like that of Derek Conway has tarnished the reputation of parliament as a whole.

Earlier this year, a parliamentary inquiry found Mr Conway, a Conservative MP, had overpaid one of his sons thousands of pounds of public money.

Mr Conway lost the Tory whip in the Commons and has agreed to pay back as much as £13,161 to the parliamentary authorities.

But despite agreeing to stand down, he will remain an MP until the next general election, which could be more than two years away.

"Thousands of voters have seen their MP exposed for corruption – and been told there's nothing they can do about it," Mr Clegg told a Lib Dem conference in Liverpool.

He proposed "a Derek Conway Clause" to be added to parliamentary rules, so that when an MP is suspended for serious misconduct, there would an automatic recall ballot so people can call for a by-election.

"If your MP lets you down, you should have the power to fire them," Mr Clegg said.

The Metropolitan Police have indicated they could launch their own investigation into Mr Conway's use of generous parliamentary allowances, public money available to MPs with little independent oversight.

Following Mr Conway's case, the Speaker of the Commons has launched a review of parliamentary expenses, but even some MPs fear the review will not go far enough to reassure voters.

One of the most contentious allowances under the current system lets MPs with constituencies outside London claim a £23,083 additional costs allowance to pay the costs of maintaining a second home.

Some MPs have used that allowance to buy second and even third properties which they then sell on. Others claim thousands of pounds a year on homes with no mortgages on them.

Theresa May, a Tory frontbencher who sits on the Speaker's review panel, suggested scrapping that allowance and increasing MPs' pay.

Ms May, the Tory shadow leader of the Commons, said: "I think we should take that housing allowance out, that's my personal view.

"There would need to be an increase in salary because most MPs do have to have two homes, that's an extra cost of being a member of Parliament."

Under the current system, MPs can claim £400 a month on shopping without receipts, meaning they could technically put an iPod bought from a supermarket on their expenses.

Ms May said: "I think MPs should be putting in receipts. We should be operating on the same basis as people operate in the outside world."